State BJP may get new chief in a week

National vice-president Kalraj Mishra said there are strong chances the president’s name may be announced in the first week itself.

“The organisational elections have also picked up pace and we are hopeful that it will be completed by April-end,” he said.

“There are chances of getting a nominated president. Hence,we cannot rule out a situation in which the name is announced before the organisational elections conclude,” said Mishra.

After Gadkari announced his team recently,all eyes have been on Uttar Pradesh where organisational elections are currently underway.

With state president Ramapati Ram Tripathi’s tenure having ended in December,it was expected that the party this time may have an elected president.

But with elections being delayed till April-end,the chances of a getting an elected president seems bleak.

That the president this time may be nominated,rather than elected,seems a strong possibility considering that Gadkari had long ago asked the state unit to zero on at least five probables,but the state unit had failed to do so.

“By April,the national president wants all state units to fill their organisational posts,as the party has to initiate different campaigns from May. Uttar Pradesh is one of the last states where elections are still being held,thus delaying the launch of the campaigns,” said a senior leader from Delhi.

“In the last one month,Gadkari has been keeping a close watch on the elections and there are strong possibilities that even UP may have a nominated president,like a few other states,” he added.

Since his first meeting with state leaders in February,Gadkari had been asking them to suggest names for the post.

Gadkari had also conducted surveys to find the top-seeded leaders for the state president’s post,said the BJP leader.

As many as 17 names were shortlisted from different divisions and the leaders were asked to zero in on five names.

These included senior leaders like Kalraj Mishra,Keshari Nath Tripathi,Lalji Tandon,former Bareilly MP Santosh Gangwar,Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath,Omprakash Singh,Dr Nepal Singh,Lucknow mayor Dr Dinesh Sharma and even Varun Gandhi.

Meanwhile,most of these names were included in Team Gadkari,thus making the list of probables in the state even smaller.

And with the state unit unable to arrive at a consensus on the five probables,Gadkari then reportedly decided to choose the candidate himself.

Names like those of general secretary Swatantra Dev Singh,vice-president Suryapr-atap Shahi,Dharampal Singh and Dr Dinesh Sharma are now being considered as front runners for the post.

Indicating that there may be more surprises in store,another state leader said: “Since almost all big names have found a place for themselves in the national committee,chances are that the state president could be someone that no one ever expected or thought about.”